Profit Margin Calculator
Three calculators in one — work out margin from price, work out price from a target margin, and find your break-even units.
1. Margin from cost & price
Already know the cost and the price you charge — see how much margin you're really making.
2. Price from cost & target margin
Set a target margin and we'll back-solve the price you need to charge.
3. Break-even calculator
How many units do you need to sell to cover your fixed costs?
Margin vs. markup — what's the difference?
Markup and margin both describe the gap between cost and price, but they're calculated against different bases:
- Markup = profit ÷ cost. If you buy something for £40 and sell for £100, markup is 60 ÷ 40 = 150%.
- Gross margin = profit ÷ revenue. Same numbers: 60 ÷ 100 = 60%.
Margin is what most people mean when they ask "what margin are you making?". Markup is more common in retail buying. They're not interchangeable — confusing the two is the most common pricing mistake we see.
Healthy margin benchmarks
These vary wildly by industry. A few rough guides:
- Service businesses (consulting, design, dev): 50–80% gross margin is achievable.
- Retail / e-commerce: typically 30–50%.
- SaaS: 70–85%+ gross margin is the norm.
- Food & hospitality: 60–70% gross on food, but huge fixed costs eat into net.
Break-even tips
Break-even tells you the minimum units you need to sell each month before you make a penny of profit. Once you know it, every unit above that line goes (mostly) to your bottom line. Bring it down by lowering fixed costs, raising prices, or cutting variable costs per unit.